From May 20-22, 2025, the 3rd International Agrobiodiversity Congress was held in Kunming, Yunnan Province. The United Nations Environment Programme-International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP), in collaboration with the Farmers' Seed Network (FSN) and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, co-hosted a side-event titled Living Agrobiodiversity: Enhancing Multiple Stakeholders' Partnership and Supporting Integrated Community-based Actions for Food System Transformation, Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change Adaptation. The event brought together over 40 participants from Asia, Europe, and South America.
With a focus on global progress in agrobiodiversity conservation, especially those emerging from the Global South, the speakers introduced five key areas of stakeholders engagement, which included the important role of seed banks in global biodiversity conservation; the practical significance of community participatory breeding in China; the practice of living agrobiodiversity in Southeast Asia; the linkage between regional conservation initiatives and on-farm agrobiodiversity in China; and community-based conservation and utilization efforts in Nepal. The speakers also shared experiences and lessons learned from their work.
During the panel discussion on Farm Agrobiodiversity Conservation and Utilization: Challenges and Opportunities, European scholars, representatives from Asian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), ethnic minority farmers from China, and entrepreneurs came together to exchange insights drawn from their own professional and personal experiences.
In her closing remarks, Prof. Linxiu Zhang, Director of UNEP-IEMP, thanked all speakers for their insightful presentations, which ranged in scale from local to global and addressed a wide spectrum of themes, including systems, communities, partnerships, and stakeholder roles. Director Zhang concluded with three key reflections. First, there is still considerable work to be done in elevating community experiences to the level of national policies and regulations, and the strengthening of partnerships will play a key role in supporting this effort. Second, the initiatives, actions, and solutions discussed at the event all contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, aligning these local efforts more directly to national and global biodiversity conservation strategies and action plans will be a critical next step. Third, achieving effective living agrobiodiversity conservation will require more systematic theories and approaches, stronger partnerships among farmers, communities, actors, scientists and government policymakers, and deeper knowledge across agricultural systems, including water resources, soil, fertilizers, pesticides, animal husbandry, and other elements of the agriculture chain.
Group photo of the participants
During the conference, the UNEP-IEMP team actively participated in a range of session presentations, side events, and roundtable discussions, introducing the team’s work on agrobiodiversity conservation in areas such as methodological innovations, international cooperation, stakeholder capacity building, and support for community-based practices. Through in-depth exchanges with both domestic and international participants, the team connected with a group of like-minded partners and further expanded opportunities for future collaboration.
